Golden Dreams
by Hawki
Summary: [Oneshot that stems purely off Broken Seal]:To him, she was anathema. To her, he was an example of what had been lost in the Golden Age. Seperated by different plains of reality, only in their dreams could they come together [Dreamshipping]


Golden Dreams

_Alright, for starters, this is a oneshot that stems off 'Broken Seal' (my novelisation) or at least the chapters featuring Sol Sanctum. If you haven't this will make no sense whatsoever. You have been warned._

_Basically this is based on the ideas of the chapter 20 that never was and can almost be considered a chapter 19.5 in a sense, although it's completely non canon to an already non canon story (like everything on the site of course). Not something to do often and I'm not too keen on writing sappy romantic oneshots but…well, I did it. And yes, 'Dreamshipping' is my term for IsaacxVani. Aren't I sad?_

_So read and/or flame. Your choice._

**XXXX**

She was originally an anathema to him and still was for the most part. In a sense she represented the concept of the unknown, the thing that all of humanity strove towards due to curiosity, an undying need to expand their knowledge of the world.

Well, maybe not all of humanity. Saturos and Menardi certainly didn't seek knowledge, instead focusing on power and the rewards it could bring. Of course, whether they were actually human was another matter entirely. Still, Isaac had the feeling that he, Garet and Ivan were similar in being exceptions also, albeit in their own way. Garet focused purely on the here and now and Ivan…well, he already seemed to have a vast repertoire knowledge that didn't really require expansion.

And indeed, Isaac felt that he too was an exception, yet in such a radically different way from his friends that if they ever found out he'd never hear the end of it. He indeed had his share of curiosity, there was just the embarrassing fact that this curiosity was centred on one specific individual, namely the girl he'd seen in Sol Sanctum, the one that he saw in visions that appeared in a seemingly random pattern. Him collapsing at the entrance, the fight with the vermin, when he'd gone wandering off by himself in the inner sanctum…Had he gone insane inside the mountain? Perhaps, but if insanity allowed him to view the things that he had, then losing his mind wasn't as bad as he'd imagined.

So what had his touches of supposed insanity given him? Isaac often found himself reflecting on this, as there was no way to expand his knowledge of the visions in the conventional sense-he could only work with what he'd been given. In short, he knew that the female he'd seen in his visions had long golden hair, a white tunic and silver eyes to match the stars above him, his companions sleeping on the grass beside him while he had the watch.

Of course, that wasn't all the information that had been presented to him. He could tell that her name was Vani and was roughly his age, give or take a few years. She'd received a scar across her cheek at some point while in the sanctum, probably had something to do with the sealing of alchemy and that she knew someone named Abel and another named Robin. Still, these facts were all secondary to the one that truly sparked his curiosity concerning the visions he'd seen and no doubt a few hormones also;

She was undoubtedly the most beautiful individual he'd ever seen.

Several months had passed since Isaac and Garet had embarked on their quest to save Weyard and as insane as the world had become lately, what with monsters roaming the plains, old friends seemingly returning from the dead and evil megalomaniacs seeking to release alchemy, day and night still existed. It was night that Isaac always looked forward to. Given how he'd only seen her in what had seemingly been a state of limbo back at Sol Sanctum, Isaac guessed that sleep was the closest state of existence to such a status. He'd always fallen asleep hoping that he might catch a glimpse of her in his dreams, if only to expand his knowledge of the individual that had captured his imagination.

It had been a fool's hope so far, but that didn't make Isaac let go of it. He needed as much hope as he could get his hands on, given that hope was the force that was driving him and his companions forward in their efforts to defeat their foes. Isaac had no less conviction but he still found himself applying such a force in more personal ways, hoping beyond hope that in his dreams he could see her again. So it was therefore with such a hope in mind that Isaac let himself abandon the watch and drift into sleep, hoping that he could get lucky, that his inherent desire to gain knowledge of the unknown would be satiated, if only to a small extent.

**XXXX**

Isaac could tell that he was dreaming as soon as he saw his new surroundings. After all, one didn't fall asleep on the North Angaran Plains and wake up at the entrance to Sol Sanctum, built into the side of a volcano that was supposed to be erupting. Of course, there _was_ the possibility that he wasn't dreaming, that he'd been transported back in time or some equally fanciful explanation, but as insane as the world had become, Isaac reasoned that that was unlikely, deciding to go with the 'dreaming explanation.'

Yet the term "dream" hardly justified the experience. Dreams tended to be a series of images or a progression of a scene, in which an individual had no control over, bound to experience to whatever was being presented to said individual until he/she woke up. This dream, if it indeed was such a thing, was different in that Isaac could tell that he was fully in control of himself, that he was as aware of the world around him as he would have been in the waking world.

It was an eerie sensation, that Isaac was so aware of himself in a setting that obviously wasn't part of reality. Perhaps after much pondering Isaac could have found an explanation for this paradox and perhaps go on to question what was truly real but he never really considered doing so, given that all of his conscious attention was currently focussed on the golden haired female that was sitting with her back to him, looking down towards Vale. Or Dale, she'd mentioned something about a name change in one of the flashbacks. Still, such information was irrelevant. All that mattered was she was _there_.

"Vani," he whispered.

Despite the fact that the single word Isaac said was a mere whisper uttered from more than ten feet away from the female individual it was directed to, Vani instantly turned around, conveying an absolute state of alertness. Isaac was impressed, but also uneasy-in Sol Sanctum, she'd been, as far as he could tell, completely oblivious to his presence, as if he was a ghost or something even less substantial. Here however, she was fully aware of him, a fact that called for caution against a faint feeling of euphoria that Isaac was feeling due to actually being able to communicate with her.

"I'm impressed," she said, a faint smile showing.

"Hmm? At what?" Isaac asked. The feeling of euphoria that he'd felt previously was promptly squashed. She was in control here, of that he had no doubt.

"At your dedication to finding answers," Vani said, the smile still showing. "After the Seal of Sages was cast on alchemy, the drive in humanity to explore the unknown has waned significantly." Her smile became more strained and her eyes more distant, as if reminiscing a lost time. Perhaps this was indeed the case; after all, the 'Golden Age of Man' had not been dubbed 'The Lost Age' for nothing.

"Yet you still seek answers to questions that not all would consider asking," Vani continued, her attention once again fully on Isaac. "I respect that. However, of the questions you probably have, some I will be able to answer, some of them I will not."

"Is that you can't give the answers?" asked Isaac slowly. "Or that you won't?"

"Guess." The smile had returned and her silver eyes were on full shine, indicating amusement. Isaac couldn't help but marvel at them, despite the fact that he knew that it was he who was the source of such amusement, however unintentional such a fact might have been.

"Well," Isaac began; "I'm guessing that you could tell me the nature of your existence and of what transpired in Sol Sanctum."

"True," admitted Vani.

"But you won't tell me," said Isaac, a feeling of resentment rising. "Because I'm not ready to know such truths or something that still conveys my woeful ignorance just as aptly." The resentment came pouring out for Vani to hear, yet it was directed at himself more than her. She had her reasons for keeping him in the dark, of that he had no doubt. He was the one at fault here, a lack of understanding ensuring that she couldn't tell him what he wanted to hear.

"You're correct for the most part," said Vani, the smile still showing. "Although you're more harsh on yourself and despondent than I'd expect." The smile faded and her voice and features became softer, more sympathetic; "After all, it wasn't just answers that you sought for was it?"

Isaac remained silent for a few seconds. Either Vani possessed incredible empathy, a possibility that he saw no reason to rule out, or he was just as inept in hiding his feelings as he was in comprehending the world around him. "Well, I might as well tell her," he thought bitterly, guessing that lying wouldn't do him any good and the chances of Ivan or Garet waking him up were slim. After all, the night had been young when he'd drifted off, Garet was a deep sleeper and Ivan had got used to the Mars Adept's snores.

"You could say that," said Isaac slowly. "When I first saw you in the first…flashback, or whatever it was, I was naturally curious. After all, seemingly fainting at the entrance and having a vision of a beautiful female isn't exactly a common occurrence, is it?"

"True, I doubt it," chuckled Vani, seemingly missing the slipped comment on her appearance that Isaac had left out, much to his relief. This was embarrassing enough as it was.

"I saw you a few more times," Isaac continued. "My curiosity rose, as one would expect, but another feeling arose from it, one far less rational." Isaac sighed, facing the ground; "Or maybe that emotion was present from the start and the curiosity arose from it instead of it being the other way round." Isaac's sky blue eyes rose to meet Vani's silver starry ones, not a mark of pride but of shame; "You're perceptive Vani, I don't think I need to tell you what that emotion was."

"No, I don't think you do," she whispered. So relieved that she was sparing him a great deal of embarrassment, Isaac failed to notice that the space between them had shortened to five feet and that her eyes and voice conveyed genuine surprise.

"So you therefore know how irrational such a feeling is," Isaac continued, glad to be able to berate himself rather than have Vani do it for him. "You know how foolish it is to chase after a fleeting dream, especially when said dream has nothing but disdain and pity for you in her-…"

"I have nothing of the sort!" Vani shouted, startling Isaac and perhaps herself too. What startled Isaac even more though was that the distance between them had shortened even further.

"Don't be afraid to chase after your dreams," Vani whispered, conviction evident in her voice despite its low volume. "For they are the medium through which people can strive for accomplishment and thus provide fulfilment and purpose for one's existence."

"That's all very well for you to say," said Isaac bitterly. "There's no purpose or fulfilment to be gained by chasing after a dream from which nothing can be gained."

Vani remained silent, causing Isaac to raise an eyebrow; "Why am I explaining this to you anyway?" he asked suspiciously. "You knew what I felt as soon as I arrived."

"I knew that you felt something apart from a need for answers," Vani whispered. "I had no idea that what you felt was mutual."

It was now Isaac's turn to remain silent, unable to fully comprehend what Vani had said. He'd heard her, yes, he knew what the word "mutual" meant, but that still didn't allow him to make sense of it. Such inaction allowed Vani to continue;

"You strive for the sake of the world and your friends with admirable dedication," she said. "Yet you're much deeper than you give yourself credit for. You harken back to the Golden Age of Man, where people sought to gain knowledge but not for their own purposes." Vani looked up to face Isaac; "I admire and respect that. From that respect, another emotion was born," she said, imitating the bemused Venus Adept. "Or maybe the order of such emotions arising was the other way round."

The space between the two adepts could no longer be measured in feet and although inches could be used, they weren't exactly the best fort of measurement. Still, such facts were the last things on their minds, namely minds that were completely focussed on their counterpart.

"It's still a dream though," said Isaac, running his hand through Isaac's golden hair none the less. Such a feeling…it was far more fulfilling than anything that reality had provided him with.

Vani smiled, the sight being obstructed once it met Isaac's straighter visage. She withdrew only slightly, uttering what would be her final words for the dream. All had already been said after all, they'd both reached a required level of understanding;

"Then it's a good dream."


End file.
